I tried to play with it immediately, but Sprint’s LTE couldn’t be accessed at my home in the Montrose area. Instead, the Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi I’m testing could only see the older Wi-Max based network. An HTC Evo 4G LTE also was unsuccessful from that location, connecting only to Sprint’s 3G network.

It wasn’t until I got into downtown that I was able to try Sprint’s LTE service. On Thursday evening I was at the Tellepsen Family YMCA on the southern end of downtown, trying to work off some of the weight I’d put on during vacation. There, I found LTE download speeds that were substantially less than what I see with AT&T’s and Verizon’s competing services. Sprint’s LTE at that location, using the Tri-Fi with my iPad, was about as fast as its WiMax service.

Fortunately, the signal was consistent and solid. I streamed an hour of high-definition video to my iPad using the Showtime Anytime app (specifically, watching Lisa Kudrow’s hilarious “Web Therapy” series) without a problem. It was more reliable than using WiMax at that location, which occasionally stutters.

The next day, I brought the HTC smartphone to the office and walked across Market Square Park to grab some lunch. Over several blocks, I saw download speeds even slower than those I’d gotten at the downtown Y. In fact, they’re closer to the 3G download speeds I see with my AT&T iPhone.

This was with a full six bars on the HTC phone, by the way.

Contrast that with a test of a Samsung Galaxy S III on Verizon’s LTE network, taken at about the same location.

I had high hopes for Sprint’s LTE service, mainly because it’s the only 4G network being offered on an unlimited basis. The combination of blistering speeds and no data caps or tiers is alluring. But if speeds are no better than Sprint’s WiMax on a good day, this product is a lot less compelling.

There are several caveats here, of course. Sprint just turned on LTE, and there will be a period of fine-tuning that could increase speeds. That said, when Verizon and AT&T went online with their LTE networks, initial download and upload speeds were jaw-droppingly fast.

In addition, the spottiness of Sprint’s network will improve over time. The company said before the launch that not every area would be able to access LTE, and Houston towers are still being upgraded. I hope to try out Sprint LTE in various parts of Houston this week, and I’ll provide an update on what I find.

Meanwhile, if you are a Sprint customer with an LTE-capable device, what speeds are you seeing, and at what locations?

Update: Several commenters who say they are Sprint LTE customers have weighed in with their own experiences.

Under ideal conditions Sprint’s network will yield 37 megabit/s down and 18 megabit/s up and I have seen speedtests that reflect these numbers. The coverage issues are due to Sprint launching these markets early and they’ll likely be resolved by years end.

I live out on 99 north of Mason Road. Inside the Kroger there on Saturday, I received a strong 4G signal, about 14 mbps down and 4 mbps up. But as I left the parking lot, I watched the signal quickly drop to nothing about three blocks north on 99. Must be a fringe area. That was the first consistent LTE signal I’ve received, and I commute to Eldridge/Briar Forest during the week. (HTC EVO 4g LTE, BTW)